Charter schools-amendments.

WORKING DRAFT
2009
STATE OF
WYOMING
09LSO-0492

HOUSE BILL
NO.
HB0265

Charter schools-amendments.

Sponsored by:
Representative(s)
Edmonds
and Wallis

A BILL

for

AN ACT relating to
charter schools;
modifying
charter application and contract provisions
as specified
;

eliminating charter prohibition if avoiding school closure or consolidation is sole purpose;
modifying length of operation under initial charter and eliminating required charter renewal;
specifying
charter revocation; specifying required minimum levels of charter funding and provided district services;
specifying application;
and
providing for an effective date.

Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of
Wyoming
:

Section 1.

W.S. 21
‑
3
‑
304
(g)
, (j)
and (k)
, 21
‑
3
‑
305
(a)
, 21
‑
3
‑
308
(a) and (c)
, 21
‑
3
‑
309
(a),
(c)(intro), (e) and (f)
, 21
‑
3
‑
310(a), (b)(intro) and (iii)
and 21
‑
3
‑
314
(c) through (e)
are amended to read:

21
‑
3
‑
304.

Charter school; requirements; authority.

(g)

Pursuant to contract, a charter school may operate free from specified school district policies and state regulations. Pursuant to contract, a school district may waive locally imposed school district requirements, without seeking approval of the state board. The state board may waive state statutory requirements or rules promulgated by the state board, except that the state board shall not waive any statute or rule relating to the assessments or standards required to be administered. Upon request of the charter applicant, the state board shall provide summaries of such regulations and policies to use in preparing a charter school application. The department of education shall prepare the summary of state regulations within existing appropriations. Any waiver of state or local school district regulations made pursuant to this subsection shall be for the term of the charter for which the waiver is made, except that a waiver of state statutes or regulations by the state board shall be subject to review every
two (2)

five (5)
years and may be revoked if the waiver is deemed no longer necessary by the state board.

(j)

A charter school may negotiate and contract with a school district, the governing body of a state college or university, or any third party for the use of a school building and grounds, the operation and maintenance thereof, and the provision of any service, activity or undertaking that the charter school is required to perform in order to carry out the educational program described in its charter.
Except as provided by W.S. 21
‑
3
‑
314,
a
ny services for which a charter school contracts with a school district shall be provided by the district at cost. The charter school shall have standing to sue and be sued in its own name for the enforcement of any contract created pursuant to this subsection.

(k)

A charter school shall not be required to pay rent for space which is deemed available

by the school facilities commission
from its inventory of school district facilities
, as negotiated by contract
.
, in school district facilities.
All other costs for the improvement, modification, operation and maintenance of the facilities used by the charter school shall be subject to negotiation between the charter
school and the district board.

21
‑
3
‑
305.

Charter schools; contract contents; regulations.

(a)

An approved

Following approval of a
charter application

based upon adequate
public
support for the application
determined through the public hearing held under W.S. 21
‑
3
‑
308, the school district and the applicant
shall
serve

use the approved application
as the basis for a contract between the charter school and the school district.

21
‑
3
‑
308.

Hearing by local board; prohibited actions by local board; criteria; compliance with state standards; state board review; contractual authority.

(a)

Not later than thirty (30) days after receiving an application for any charter school as defined in W.S. 21
‑
3
‑
302, the district board shall hold a public hearing on the application
, at which time the board shall consider

solely
to determine
the level of community and parental support for the application if an application for a new charter school, or the level of teacher and parental support if an application for a converted charter school or charter school within a school.

The measure of public support shall be based upon the minimum level necessary for the applicant to successfully initiate and operate the school, as computed in accordance with methodology
provided by the department of education.
Following review of the application and the public hearing, if applicable, and in accordance with subsection (d) of this section, the district board shall either approve or deny the application within sixty (60) days of receipt. Approval under this article may be conditioned for purposes specified under subsection (c) of this section. In addition, the board may approve an application for the operation of a converted charter school only if it determines teacher and parental support for the conversion are established at the levels required by W.S. 21
‑
3
‑
306(b).
Prior to approving an application for a charter school under this section, the board shall approve and adopt the content and terms of the contract as provided in W.S. 21
‑
3
‑
307.

(c)

For purposes of contract negotiation, t
he district board shall require the applicant to provide information regarding the proposed operation and potential effects of the school, including but not limited to the facilities to be utilized by the school, the manner in which administrative services of the school are to be provided and a demonstration that the school is adequately insured for liability, including errors and omissions coverage, and that the school district is indemnified to the fullest extent possible. As authorized under subsection (a) of this section, the applicant may request the district board and the board may approve the charter application subject to specified conditions which provide the applicant sufficient time to acquire necessary funding for securing or otherwise finalizing arrangements for facilities or equipment necessary for the operation of the proposed school. In addition, the district board may upon request of the applicant and approval of the charter school application, make available for use by the charter school any district facility which is closed, not operational and otherwise feasible for use as an educational building as defined under W.S. 21
‑
15
‑
109(a)(ii).

21
‑
3
‑
309.

Length of operation under charter;
ongoing review;
revocation.

(a)

A

charter
may be
granted pursuant to this article
for a period

not to exceed
five (5)

years

and may be renewed for successive periods not to exceed five (5) years for each renewal period. A material revision of the provisions of a charter petition may be made only with the approval
of

shall be valid unless revoked under subsectio
n
(c) of this section and
shall be subject to ongoing monitoring and review by

the local board granting the charter.

(c)

Following the first three (3) years
of operation under the charter,
a
charter may be revoked
or not renewed
by the district board if the board determines that the charter school

did any of the following
:

failed, on three (3) separate occasions, to
attain or maintain
reasonable progress toward achievement of the content standards

and pupil performance standards identified in the charter application
, or

upon any violation of
any provision of law from which the charter school was not specifically exempted.

(e)

If a district board revokes
or does not renew
a charter, the board shall state its reasons for the revocation
.

or nonrenewal

In addition, a charter shall not be revoked unless the charter school was provided written notice of each violation under subsection (c) of this section
at the time the alleged violation occurred
.

(f)

A decision to revoke
or not to renew
a charter may be appealed pursuant to
the provisions of
W.S. 21
‑
3
‑
310.

21
‑
3
‑
310.

Appeal; standard of review; procedures.

(a)

A charter applicant or any other person who wishes to appeal a decision of a district board concerning a charter school shall provide the state board and the district board with a notice of appeal within forty-five (45) days after receiving the local board's written decision and reasons for denial. If the appeal is of a denial
, nonrenewal,
or revocation of a charter, the person bringing the appeal shall limit the grounds of the appeal to the grounds for denial specified by the district board. The notice shall include a brief statement of the reasons the charter school applicant contends the district board's denial was in error.

(b)

If the notice of appeal, or the motion to review by the state board, relates to a district board's decision to deny
, refuse to renew,
or revoke a charter or to a district board's unilateral imposition of conditions that are unacceptable to the charter school or the charter applicant, the appeal and review process shall be as follows:

(iii)

If the district board's final decision is still to deny
, refuse to renew
or revoke a charter or to unilaterally impose conditions unacceptable to the charter school or the charter applicant, a second notice of appeal may be filed with the state board within thirty (30) days following such final decision;

21
‑
3
‑
314.

Students counted among district ADM; determination of charter school funding.

(c)

As part of the charter school contract, the charter school and the school district shall agree on funding and any services to be provided by the school district to the charter school
, provided the charter school receives the minimum funding amounts and district services specified by this subsection and subsection (d) of this section
. The charter school and the school district shall begin discussions on the contract using the following revenue assumptions:

(i)

The charter school shall be entitled to
the benefit of

an amount
not les
s than
one hundred percent (100%) of the foundation program amount computed under W.S. 21
‑
13
‑
309(m) based upon the average daily membership of the charter school,

including special weights provided to vocational education program attendance under W.S. 21
‑
13
‑
309(m)(v)(D) and students identified as at-risk in accordance with W.S. 21
‑
13
‑
309(m)(v)(A),
less any district level amounts generated by the charter school's membership under W.S. 21
‑
13
‑
309(m) and less amounts specified under W.S. 21
‑
13
‑
309(m)(v)(E)
;
.

(ii)

The charter school shall be entitled to
the benefit of

an amount not less than
one hundred percent (100%) of the amount to be contributed to the school district under major maintenance payments pursuant to W.S. 21
‑
15
‑
109 based upon the proportion that the charter school educational building gross square footage contributes to the district educational building gross square footage
;
.

(iii)

The charter school shall be entitled to
,

and the school district shall provide the charter school with
,
transportation and special education services for which the district is reimbursed under the foundation program pursuant to W.S. 21
‑
13
‑
309(m)(v)(E);

(iv)

The charter school shall be entitled to
,
and the school district shall provide to the charter school
,
federally required educational services for which the district receives federal funds
through the department of education
;

(v)

The charter school shall be entitled to an amount not less than one hundred percent (100%) of the amounts within the foundation program for health insurance as provided by W.S. 21
‑
13
‑
309(m)
(
v)(F).

(d)

The charter school
may also

shall
contract with the school district
for
, and the school district shall provide,
centralized services

provided by

for which
the district

receives foundation program funding under W.S. 21
‑
13
‑
309,
including curriculum, media services, libraries and
federally required educational services such as special education

central administrative services
.

(e)

In lieu of paragraph (a)(iv) and subsections (c) and (d) of this section, the district and the charter school applicant may by mutual agreement fund the charter school through a specific budget for the charter school
provided the charter school does not receive less
than
the minimum level of funding
and
services specified under subsections (c) and (d) of this section
.

Section 2.

W.S. 21
‑
3
‑
303(b), 21
‑
3
‑
304(f)
and (m)
and
21
‑
3
‑
30
9(b)
,

(c)(i)
through (iv
) and (d)

are repealed.

Section 3.

Nothing in this act shall apply to or otherwise modify any charter contract entered into under W.S. 21
‑
3
‑
301 through 21
‑
3
‑
314 and approved prior to July 1, 2009, until such time as that charter contract is otherwise materially revised on and after July 1, 2009.

Section 4.

This act is effective July 1, 2009.

(END)

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HB0265